Position: 35°10’51.4″N 103°43’34.5″W America’s answer to Timbuktu is Tucumcari, a small town in eastern New Mexico. Before Route 66 was the main road west to California, Tucumcari had already gained notoriety. Founded as a construction camp for the Rock Island …
Position: 38°05’11.3″N 13°32’23.8″E You may have heard of the Bayesian. She is, or rather was, a superyacht designed by legendary naval architect Ron Holland. Last August she sank in a freak storm off the north coast of Sicily. The storm …
Position: 45°31’07.3″N 122°40’58.4″W Nautical terminology is highly specific. When the captain calls out, “Double the starboard bow line and tie it off on the starboard bow cleat, then release the port breast lines”, there isn’t room for interpretation. It is …
Position: 46°11’37.5″N 123°58’28.5″W One of Oregon’s autumn fixtures is the annual Portland Book Festival. Hundreds of readers head downtown and take in the perspectives and wisdom of both local and internationally known writers. Staged interviews are congenial and leave plenty …
Position: DRUG-INDUCED AMBULATORY COMA I have been a foreigner for much of my life. It has its advantages. Let me clarify. By the time my dad landed a decent job with tenure at the University of Chicago, he had dragged …
This week we continue our occasional series about famous sea craptains. For our more sensitive readers please note this entry contains salty language, such as that typically employed by sailors – and plumbers… Position: 57°21’00.0″N 1°39’00.0″W April 1945 – off …
Position: 45°37’02.0″N 122°40’18.1″W Having criss-crossed the globe vertically and horizontally in the past couple of months, it occurred to me that our oblique definitions of first, second and third world countries are just that – oblique. The traveller, if they …
Position: 24°20’42.8″S 30°57’56.8″E Hoedspruit is not pronounced “hoed’ sprout” as you might imagine. Rather it is “who’d’ sprit”. Such are the variances between modern Dutch and Afrikaans (broadly based on 400-year-old Dutch). Twenty years ago, Indians in India were still …
Position: 24°23’44.1″S 31°46’29.4″E Visiting South Africa is a bit like entering a gated community. Once inside, safe behind the security guards and barbed wire, you can leave reality behind. In Kruger National Park, the tourists are almost all white, and …
